Valerie Burns, author of Icing on the Murder, a Baker Street mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to explore with us whether it is possible to push the boundaries of cozies without sacrificing the essence of what makes a cozy mystery, “cozy”.

Welcome, Valerie. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

There are a specific set of rules that cozy mysteries must adhere to in order to fall into that subgenre of mystery. Cozy mysteries almost always feature an amateur sleuth, usually female, they are set in small towns and are sometimes referred to as “clean mysteries.” The clean label was adopted because cozies don’t have gratuitous violence, no explicit sex and no bad language (well, not much). Sure, cozies usually have a murder that needs to be solved, but rarely will the reader see the brutal reality of the crime. The heart of the cozy mystery is in following the clues to figure out Whodunit. Nevertheless, the common belief is that writers should always push the boundaries to take their writing to the next level. Is it possible to push the boundaries of cozies without sacrificing the essence of what makes a cozy mystery, “cozy?”

Pushing the envelope or the boundaries for a cozy mystery doesn’t have to mean pushing readers to accept more sex, violence and bad language. Pushing the envelope of a cozy could be as simple as moving the setting outside of the traditional, small town into a more urban environment or including people of different races, ages, cultures and backgrounds. My Baker Street Mystery series feature a Black female, Madison Montgomery. PUSH. Maddy is a fashionist and social media influencer. PUSH. She inherits a bakery, which isn’t a stretch. There are tons of culinary cozy mysteries. However, Maddy can’t cook. PUSH. To keep her inheritance, Maddy needs to run the bakery, live in the house, and keep the 250 lb English mastiff that she inherits. PUSH. PUSH. PUSH. Maddy’s use of social media and her love of fashion differentiate her from the elderly ladies who sip tea in a classic cozy mystery. However, Maddy and her group of friends prove that they are just as adept at following the clues as any elderly spinster. Icing on the Murder is the 4^th book in the Baker Street Mystery series.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Valerie, and good luck with Icing on the Murder, the latest book in the Baker Street mystery series. Readers can learn more about Valerie Burns by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Bookbub Instagram and Goodreads pages.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

 Amazon – Apple – Books A Million – Barnes & Noble – Bookshop. Org – Google Play – Hudson Booksellers – KOBO – Target – Walmart 

About Valerie Burns: Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha and Edgar Award-nominated author. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series. As Kallie E. Benjamin, Valerie writes the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. She is an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, and a mentor in the Pocket MFA program. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles.